Yasiel Puig

Ben Badler of Baseball America pegged the Rangers as the most likely landing spot for Cuban slugger Jose Abreu last week, but it sounds like they are going to have plenty of competition. Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports that the Marlins are “all in” to sign Abreu and were “well represented” as his two-day workout…

Remember a while ago, some had the idea that having slow runners on base was a bad idea because they “clogged up the bases“? Even though having runners on base directly leads to scoring runs? It took a bit of work (and ridicule) to get that idea out of the zeitgeist. Now, thanks to Steve…

Despite making it close, the Dodgers had plenty of opportunities to score but came up empty plenty of times following Hanley Ramirez‘s RBI double in the first inning. They couldn’t get the big hit against Braves starter Mike Minor from the second through the sixth innings, nor relievers Luis Ayala or Luis Avilan in the…

The Braves got on the board against Dodgers starter Zack Greinke thanks to their handy shortstop. Evan Gattis, the goat of last night’s game, reached on a single to left, then advanced to second on a ground out. With two outs, shortstop Andrelton Simmons laced a double to right field, sailing over Yasiel Puig‘s head.…

Things went so well for the Dodgers last night that they decided to use the same lineup in Game 2 that they used in Game 1. Things went so poorly for the Braves last night that they decided to use the same lineup in Game 2 that they used in Game 1. Er, never mind.…

Last night, Yasiel Puig‘s smart, heads-up base running got the Dodgers a run. His arm in right — and the manner in which he kinda deked Even Gattis as to whether he was gonna catch a ball and then throw — ended the Braves second inning when he doubled Gattis off first. It was quite…

Batting fifth for just the second time as a major leaguer, Yasiel Puig went 2-for-3 and collected an outfield assist in his first postseason game as the Dodgers beat the Braves 6-1 on Thursday. Puig had mostly been hitting at the top of the order, but manager Don Mattingly opted to drop him to the…

The Braves got on the board against Clayton Kershaw in the bottom of the fourth inning, but the Dodgers got a run right back in the top of the sixth inning. Jordan Walden took over for Luis Ayala to begin the sixth inning and retired Carl Crawford on a ground out, but he then gave…

The Dodgers are off to a quick start against the Braves in Game 1 of the NLDS. After Braves right-hander Kris Medlen struck out the side in the first inning, he gave up two runs in the top of the second. Yasiel Puig helped create one of them, as he reached on a one-out single…

There’s been a lot of talk about Yasiel Puig‘s alleged hot dogging and the Dodgers jumping into the Diamondbacks’ pool. There has been a lot of talk about Brian McCann: Baseball Sheriff and the Braves’ multiple run-ins this year with players they perceived to be acting unprofessionally. Against that backdrop Jorge Arangure writes in Sports…

You can’t predict baseball, but you can at least lay out the parameters. So let’s take a look at what the Dodgers and Braves have in store for us in the National League Division Series. The Teams Los Angeles Dodgers (92-70) vs. Atlanta Braves (96-66) The Matchups Game 1 Today in Atlanta: Clayton Kershaw vs. Kris…

We still have one game left that, technically and statistically speaking, belongs to the regular season. But practically speaking — and in our hearts — we are into the playoffs now. Game 163 between the Rays and Rangers is do-or-die and very, very few regular season games can say that. So: toss your technical orthodoxy.…

Marlins 1, Tigers 0: It’s not often a 100-loss team ends the year with a beer shower celebration. But it’s not often a guy on a 100-loss team — or any team for that matter — tosses a no-hitter on the final day while winning via a walkoff wild pitch. Congratulations Henderson Alvarez. Sorry about…

The 2013 season keeps on getting worse for Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp. Having already missed time this season due to a strained right hamstring, inflammation of the AC joint in his right hsoulder, and a sprained left ankle, Kemp has now been ruled out of the playoffs, per Dylan Hernandez. Hernandez tweeted that Kemp was…

Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp has batted .314 with an .870 OPS in 39 plate appearances since returning from his severe left ankle sprain on September 16. But that ankle injury still lingers. Kemp was scratched from the Dodgers’ starting lineup on Saturday night against the Rockies with what is being termed an ankle flareup…

Let the bidding begin. According to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com, Cuban first baseman Jose Dariel Abreu has been declared a free agent by MLB and is now free to sign with any team. Abreu defected from Cuba earlier this year and we learned last week that he had established residency in Haiti. The 26-year-old needed…

Jon Morosi of FOX Sports spoke with Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, mostly about swag. Phillips says that baseball needs more of it, saying, “That’s exactly why African-Americans don’t play baseball. [There’s] no passion in the game. You’ve got to be like a robot. Look at basketball. Look at football. When you make an exciting…

Are the days of ballplayers risking their lives to defect a thing of the past? Cuba says athletes can sign professional contracts in foreign leagues, reversing long ban: http://t.co/dS6PQKkBQr -RD — The Associated Press (@AP) September 27, 2013 The Cuban Government’s anouncemnt thru GRANMA (the official newspaper of Cuba’s Communist Party) says that athletes will…

Major League Baseball just announced the most popular jerseys sold and Mariano Rivera is at the top of the list: 1. Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees 2. Matt Harvey, New York Mets 3. Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles Dodgers 4. Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles 5. Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants 6. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers 7. Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals 8. Andrew McCutchen,…

Andre Ethier has become the forgotten man in the Dodgers’ outfield thanks to an ankle injury and after a setback yesterday Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles writes that “his availability for the postseason is in question.” Ethier tested his ankle with some pregame running, but had to cut things short and afterward called it…

Indians 5, White Sox 4: Unbelievable. Chris Perez blows a save in the top of the ninth and the ancient Jason Giambi picks him and the Indians up in the bottom, smacking a two-run walkoff homer. Still life in that old bat. Still life in the Indians, who remain in wild card position. Rangers 3,…

Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was nearly unhittable as usual tonight against the Padres, blanking them over seven innings of work. The lefty allowed just three hits and walked two while striking out ten, improving to 15-9 and lowering his ERA to 1.88. Not that Kershaw needed to do anything else to ensure that the NL…

Not too long ago, I was working on a project that (sadly) never quite got off the ground — it was a project to explore why we still love sports. Here we are surrounded by the horror of concussions and NCAA hypocrisy and PED use and countless other unsavory things … but we still love…